What do you get....

When it's raining outside and you have a 2 foot zucchini? 7 loaves of zucchini bread.

• 2 regular loaves


• 1 chocolate chip zucchini


• 1 blueberry zucchini


• 1 banana zucchini


• 1 lemon zucchini


• 1 regular with vallina flavoring

A 10?!?

A bit of comedy during the Olympics.

Family Zoo

We have a mini zoo at our house.

This is Millie. She is our escape artist. It doesn't matter how tall the fence she gets out.

This is Liza. She is a good dog and like every lab loves to play. She would play 24/7 if we would. Her one draw back is she licks all the time, but this is solved by letting her carry a sock in her mouth. Liza and Mille have the exact same birthday, but they are 4 years apart.This is Tigger. Tigger is the only male animal in the house. We got Tigger from my mom. She was taking care of him for my brother and Tigger decided to adopt our daughter Shandy. Tigger loves to hang out with Shandy and in her room. This is Puffy. Originally Puffy's name was angel, but she looked more like a puff ball, so we called her Puffy. Although puffy is fat she can run fast, especially if you are heading in the direction of her food!This is Ebby. As far as cats go she is perfect. You pet her a little bit and then she goes away. She doesn't like or need to be snuggled or sit on your lap.

This is Cocoa. We have only had he for a short time. She is a very talkative guinea pig and somewhat cuddley.

This is Steffi. She is a very shy guinea pig, but loves to play when we set out her play area.

Great Day

Today was a great day. I got to do almost everything I like to do. I went with my brother to the temple (it was his first time). I got to hang out with my mom, and 2 of my brothers--one came from California and the last time I saw him was about 9 years ago. I met my brothers wife. She is really cool. I got to go for a mountain bike ride. And finally I played softball tonight as a substitute and had the winning run in a tie breaker game! Fun great day doing almost everything I like to do. I don't think I could ask for anything more.

New Saddle

A friend gave me a new saddle for my mountain bike today. It is a WSD Bontrager Infrom RL. The saddle is really cool. I took it for a 12.5 mile ride today and I loved it. After using it I got home and read about it and discovered why it was so great. The seat is made to support your sit bones and prevent pressure on the soft tissue, and it worked. I felt comfortable the whole ride. The one drawback I found was you need to get the seat in the exact position which is right where your seat bones are. This can take a little bit of adjusting and readjusting of the saddle, but once you get it just right it feels great.

URMB Group Ride

Went today and rode up in AF Canyon for a group ride with Utah Rocky Mountain Bikers (URMB). Those who wanted to join the ride met at the pullout before the guard shack. I messaged the ride leader Steve before hand and met them up at the Timpanooke parking lot. Those that went on the ride today were Steve, Derek and Kerry all members of URMB.

We left the parking lot and somehow I ended up being in the front for the first part of the ride. Which is fine, because it was uphill, and I really did not want to get left behind. I stayed up front until we reached what people call puke hill--I think there is a puke hill on every trail. At that point Derek put the pedal to the metal and breezed by everyone. I didn't know it was possible to go up that hill that fast. Now that I do I guess I am going to have to try it. As I went up somehow I ended up riding off the trail instead of staying on it and ended up off my bike...bummer. I broke my record of clearing this hill, now I will have to start my count over. At the top of the hill Derek took the lead. I made a joke about who let Derek take the lead, and he ended up pulling to the back. Sorry, Derek. I hope you know I was only kidding. However since he was in the back and so was I it was fun to visit and talk about team racing stuff. At the top of the hill I made sure Derek went in front of me as downhill is still not my speciality and I hate to hold people up on the downhill. We rode down and then came to gravel hill. Today was a good day for this hill. It was gravely and loose, but I didn't have any problems clearing the hill. At four corners all the guys went first and I went last and they waited for me at the road. I don't know how long they waited for me on the road, but I know Steve went 29 mph and I went 18.6 mph, I'm not going to do the math to figure this out. On the road it was back to the trail and back to the uphill. Derek wanted to do two laps, so at this point he took off, and I got to be in the lead again. Being in the lead on the uphill is not a bad thing and I had fun as we rode along, but at the Summit it was time for me to go to the rear. This part of the trail is my least favorite, because of the loose rocks and dust. However the more I ride the trail the less I struggle with this part of the trail. Toward the first intersection after the I Summit as I rode down there was a motorcyclist. He was telling Steve he would pull over for me to get by however he did not do that. I had to ride around him as he was saying he would pull over. I found out later that Steve had made him stop, which I appreciate, because the last thing I needed, was to run into on that particular downhill was a motorcycle! The rest of the ride was fabulous. I can't wait for the next group ride with this group. It was a lot of fun.

Derek, Kerry and a rider we met on the trail at four corners.

Derek and Kerry while we wait for Steve to investigate a different part of the trail.

Sorry about the pictures hopefully soon I will get a new camera.

Sunflower Seeds

Royce loves to plant sunflowers, every year he plants a few in our backyard and by fall he harvests them and bakes all the sunflowers seeds. This year we ended up having a lot of sunflowers bloom and they are very big! Took some pictures of a few of the plants. Anyone want some sunflowers seeds in the fall?!?

How did that happen?

Went for a ride today on one of my favorite trails the Timpanooke Loop, with some fun riders Dot, Jolene and Heather. Jolene and I have done this trail, but Dot and Heather have not, so we got a chance to share one of our favorite trails. The ride was a lot of fun and all was going well until we came down to the bottom of Deer Creek South Fork. Apparently as Dot rolled across the bridge her chain decided to jump off the cassette and wrap around the inside by the spokes. And it did this without breaking the chain. It took around 30 minutes and all 4 of us to get it out. Dot had to unlink her chain and take her wheel off, and then Dot loosened the spokes (she had needle nose in her camelback--I need to get some for mine). After that it took Dot pulling in one direction Heather in the other and Jolene and I holding the wheel steady. Now it sounds like not a lot of time, but we tried a lot of different things before this was the one that worked. I should mention all of us were prepared with quick links and tools.

Hard to see in this picture, but the link is hooked onto the spoke.Working on getting the bike fixed.

After the bike was fixed we continued on. The rest of the ride was fun. We had to stop on one of my favorite parts of the downhill for horses, but other than that the ride was smooth and fun. I hope the ride was still fun for Dot, because she was not able to shift through all of her gears, so what became a fun casual ride became more of a workout than I am sure she planned. She and Heather both had smiles on their faces when we were done, so I am guessing yes.

Time to get a new camera....these were taken while they were coming uphill. I missed Heather all together to operator malfunction.

Ride Like a Girl

Tonight Jolene and I met up at Mad Dogs in Orem to participate in the Ride Like a Girl group ride. KC Holley led the group. Besides me and Jolene there were five other women who joined the group--Katrina, Patti, Kody, Noelle and Heidi. Our ride destination was a surprise until we met at Mad Dog where once gathered together we found out we were going to Sundance. Sundance is a fun place to ride and I was excited to find out this is where we would be riding.

Once we got to Sundance we completed the necessary paperwork, got our ride/lift wristbands and headed to the lifts. This was probably the worse part of the whole night. I hate ski lifts, ferris wheels and anything else that has me up high. I rode with Jolene and Katrina. Luckily for me they kept the conversation going and I could look at them and not think about how far up we were as I kept a death grip on the bars. I was very relieved once we were on ground again. Prior to going down the road to the trail KC gave us brief instruction on how to ride on the gravel. I understood what she said, but it still didn't make me like riding a gravel road. At the trail we then received instruction on how to maneuver our bikes on a downhill switchback. Downhill switchbacks are probably my least favorite thing to ride. I always get tensed up an end up going around them at granny pace. KC taught me a couple of things I had not been told before, and I immediately put them to work. I found by using less of my front brake and more of my back brake I ended up going around the switchback more easily and not with the stutter, jerk motion I tend to end up doing. I also found my speed was more consistent through the switchbacks. Sometimes this made me nervous as I am not used to staying at a consistent speed. Usually I am so slow I have to pick up my speed. Sundance has a lot of switchbacks and we got a lot of practice on them. We also got to go over a log pile(which was fun), rocks and do a little bit of climbing. By the end I actually was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable going down the switchbacks. So much so, that when everyone parted their ways, Jolene and I took off for a ride up the hill and did a short ride, with of course, more switchbacks. Here are a few pictures from the ride with some of the riders.

The Bonk

My husband and I went to ride in AF Canyon today. I have been telling him for weeks how great Deer Creek South Fork is and we finally got the chance to go together. Instead of starting at my regular spot (Timpanooke Campground) we went to Cascade Springs and parked in the open campground area. Since Royce does not get out much to ride his bike I figured this would be a good spot to start and we could take it a section at a time by going up and back or doing a smaller loop. The trail was in great condition from here up to the Summit except for the part of the trail slated to be worked on this Saturday, and it has been broken in fairly well although I don't think this is the permanent path. I did see a dead bird on the trail, it was pretty big. I wasn't quite sure if I should move it or not, so I left it there. As we got to the Summit Royce was a little winded, but ready to go forward and do the loop. So onward it was. The next part of the Trail Ridge 157 is not ideal. Sometimes this part can be okay, but other times it has a lot of loose dirt and rocks. Today it was loose, with a lot loose rocks. I took this part of the trail cautiously since I had crashed on this particular part of the trail Saturday and didn't feel like doing it again. I didn't crash this time, but came close, and in the exact same spot! Except this time I stopped and lucky for me I was able to look back and figure out what I was doing wrong. Then it was onward down the trail. At the next intersection (Salamander Flats or Ridge 157) Royce took the lead and continued forward on Ridge 157. This part of the downhill was not too bad and is pretty a pretty fast trail. I surprisingly caught up to Royce just prior to the next intersection, apparently his chain had dropped. He quickly fixed it and we met up at the Pine Hollow/Ridge 157 intersection. We stayed on 157. About this point Royce was looking a little peaked, but he wanted to go on, so we did. This part of the trail is uphill, but not too bad. You have a few rocks to maneuver around and over, but for the most part it is a fairly nice grade that is steady all the way. We only went abut .25 of a mile when I looked behind me and couldn't see Royce. I waited and waited, and began to wonder if he had mechanical problems. About that time he caught up to me and looked pretty bad. And he was, he did not feel good at all. He had the classic symptoms, hot, nausea, exhaustion, nausea and more nausea....he had bonked, I thought for sure he was going to toss his cookies right then and there. Since he was so bad off we decided to split up. He would immediately go down hill to Timpanooke Campground and I would head back to the car via Deer Creek South Fork of course (I was too close to turn around). We separated and I went on my way. I love uphill, and this one is not too bad. There is a short downhill, and then you come to the beast. The hill that has loose dirt, loose rocks and is one of those 50/50 hills. Today was not the day. I had to walk about 12 feet....bummer. I continued riding, and then I came to it, my favorite part of the trail. A trail I call heaven. It is sooooo much fun. This trail goes so smoothly and flows. You go down, down, down and then you go down so more and just when you think you are done because you start to go up, you are fooled and you go down some more until you get to the road. Sometimes my quads will be burning from being in my downhill position for so long. The hardest part for me on this trail is not going too fast. Today was perfect. I was on my brakes a little bit more, but I was having fun and going the perfect speed. About half way down I had an epiphany and realized I was not looking far enough ahead. I always look ahead, but apparently not far enough. This is kind of a difficult thing to do because I want to see what is coming up, but looking only a little bit ahead versus a lot a head doesn't necessarily help this. I noticed when I look a little bit ahead I see the obstacles, but I have to go slower to react to them and the control I have over my bike is not as solid. Today on the last half of the downhill when I started to look further ahead I noticed my speed increase, I had better control of my bike, going over the obstacles was not near as difficult and the turns were much easier. The rest of the down hill went smoothly and then I was back at my car. I racked my bike and went to get Royce. When I got to him he was still looking pretty wasted. We got rolling and I gave Royce my EFS and a gu to see if it would help him. At this point I should be done writing, and tell you all is well and after a few hours Royce felt better, and he now knows what it feels like to bonk. But I can't, because as we headed out the of canyon, right at the very end, just before the guard shack, we saw a doe and her baby. The car in front just drove right around them (I guess they don't care about watching wildlife), but I stopped, and so did the doe. Check it out! She looked right at me for a long time, before we finally parted ways. I had enough time to grab my camera, take a picture, zoom in and take another picture and then continue to look at her. It is always cool to see wildlife up close.